Write Your Life’s Script: How Great People Plan Their Life

The world is built by inspired people. Why is this? The other day I wrote an article about Napoleon Bonaparte. One of the themes you’ll find in reading about Napoleon, is his boundless energy. When he wasn’t orating, he was studying. There weren’t days where he slept in. Where he was overwhelmed, or lazy.

His energy wasn’t the result of a caffein dependance. He didn’t have any tricks that allowed him to study more than anyone else, or to work harder, and with more passion that any of his comrades. His energy was the result of his inspiration.

Enthusiasm gives us super-powers. It’s always those who are incredibly motivated to reach great heights, that reach those heights. They do what’s necessary to get there, yes, but they’re aided by an unexplainable force. A force that made me jump out of bed this morning, and has helped me sit in the same seat for 4 hours, seemingly without blinking. It’s excitement, inspiration, and enthusiasm wrapped up in a perfect storm of kick-assery.

Are you reading this, wondering why the hell you’re not as enthusiastic about your job, or your life? Are you jealous of little old Napoleon? Well, my enthusiasm isn’t necessarily innate. It’s not something I’m born with, and the more I read up on Mr. Bonaparte, I realize it’s not something he’s born with either.

Energy, enthusiasm, and motivation is practiced. It can be perfected. But it doesn’t happen by chance. I didn’t have this same level of enthusiasm last week, because I wasn’t following the same routine. The same habits weren’t followed, so the results couldn’t exist.

Habitual Greatness: Writing the Legend of Your Life

Before I even started this article, or the newsletter that came before it, I spent 2 hours planning my life; writing my script. I woke up inspired, because I was excited to write and plan what I’m going to accomplish.

The habits I followed, or the morning routine that followed my rise, furthered this enthusiasm. The following is a detailed look at how to write the script of your life. We’re going to create the plan that will lead you to create a Legendary life. A map that, when followed, will give you the enthusiasm that helped Napoleon accomplish so much in such a little time.

A piece of paper that will help you tap into that un-named force that helped Steve Jobs, Einstein, Theodore Roosevelt, Churchill, MLK, and Richard Branson, forge their own paths in life. That force that helped them etch their names in the history books.

Your Magnificent Obsession

Sharma explained it in his video… This is that thing you want to accomplish, to be great at, or to create. Many are unaware of what it is, exactly, or what shape and form it will take on, but we know its there. If you have a vision for what you want to create, write it down.

Take out a piece of paper, or open a document, and start writing. Write down the following headers, and fill in what you want. Be audacious. The worst thing you can possibly do is to be realistic. Avoid realism like the plague.

The Next 3 Years

3 years out, if everything worked out perfectly…

What would my company/life/body look like?

What would my home look like, my office, my car, my day?

What would I stand for, my brand stand for, my life stand for?

How much money would we be making?

Tailor these headers to your Magnificent Obsession. If it’s an entrepreneurial endeavor, adjust them accordingly. If it’s a fitness goal, a lifestyle vision, a dream, make them fit.

1 Year From Now

Do the same. Write down the same headers as your 3-year focus, but compress them to the things that will make this year a successful one – and I mean ideally successful, not partially successful, or moderately successful, but EPIC, BIG, and INCREDIBLY successful.

The 5 Characteristics of an Epic Year

What 5 things will make this year a success?

For example:

A certain income.

To be debt free or financially free.

To have written your book, brought your weight and physique to a certain look, or performance level.

Come up with no more than 5 things. Make them firm and measurable.

Quarterly Excellence

Break your year into quarters. If I want to get my site to 200,000 unique views a month, as a yearly goal, and a factor in a successful year, my quarterly goal will be to reach one quarter of that. If you want to get down to a ripped, 185 lbs, then cut where you are now, from your end goal, into a quarter, and find that number.

I’ve left my second quarter goals alone for now, and only focused on this quarter.

Review these quarterly goals every Sunday.

Top 3 Values

Are discipline, persistence, innovation, and hard work at the core of your values? Write down what you value most. Are they ethics, habits? These are the things that you live by, that guide your life in the right direction. They’re non-negotiable. If someone asks you to go against these values in a business deal, in a relationship, in anything, you say no. You don’t flinch on these values.

The Habits Make the Legend

The holy hour

Rely on rituals. A morning routine is key. This has helped me far beyond explanation. It puts everything into perspective, reminds me daily of my mission and my focus. This is a must for everyone.

About Chad Howse

chadhowse Chad's mission is to get you in the arena, ‘marred by the dust and sweat and blood’, to help you set and achieve audacious goals in the face of fear, and not only build your ideal body, but the life you were meant to live. He’s a former 9-5er turned entrepreneur, a former scrawny amateur boxer turned muscular published fitness author. He’ll give you the kick in the ass needed to help you live a big, ambitious life.

Thanks man! I entered one through a friend of mine. But they’re out there. In my niche, there are a bunch, you just have to ask around. But don’t hesitate to create your own. Bring in people you admire, and have built a relationship with over the years.

Vincent

Hey Chad, thanks for sharing the video with us. Sharma looks like an inspirational and enthusiastic guy who knows what he’s talking about. Investing in coaching, education and learning in general is of great value for everyone and that is a perfect lesson to learn.

I’ve started ‘planning my life’ at the start of my Bachelors degree. The first semester went bad (6.33 GPA out of 10). Then I found an article about life planning and normal planning and followed the instructions. Now my GPA is 7.80 out of 10 (1 year later, top 5% of my year). And other things like finance, reading books, spending more useful time (gym, reading magazines and blogs like yours) and all the metrics of quality in life are much higher then ever before.

The way you and Sharma talk about this way of making a gameplan seems better then the one I used before and I have written mine too.

Interesting questions to ask yourselves and to get out your comfort zone are: – Try to do something new every month, like a sport you never did or an other activity you never did. You’ll expand your horizon and comfort zone and have more knowledge about the things in life. (Something like you say on your first point at travel)

– Which things, habits, people or acitivties have a negative influence on you as a person? Identify them and then cut them out of your life (as far as possible)

– Write down everything you do for a week. What did you do, at what time and how much time did it cost and what did it earned you? (You’ll probably find that you still do a lot of useless things that can be skipped)

The idea about taking an older person out to lunch and learn from their stories is a great idea, I will try to do that more often too.

I got one question for you: If I wake up at 5.00 and go for a run or bodyweight workout of 20 minutes, is going to the gym for a good workout at 8.00 (AM) too early or not? I’ll have a big breakfast around 6.30.

Thanks Chad, this type of articles are great and I hope you can do this kind of life-coaching acticles more often.

Hey man, great point about trying something new every month. I’m going to do that. There’s a lot here in Vancouver that I’ve never done. A ton of great outdoor activities that need to be taken advantage of.

As for the workout, you have to structure it based on your own day. So whatever works best for you. 8 am isn’t too close to your run, just make sure you’re eating enough of the right foods around that workout.

Vincent

Thanks for your reply. The 5AM thing is something that takes some time to get used to, but working before the sun rises seems like one of the best things to implement after only two days of rising very early.

Good luck with your plans. I don’t know the people who you take out to lunch once a month, but would it be a good idea to share some of the insights on the blog, like an interview or something?

Wow, great read Chad! This all comes back to making a decision, and then just making it happen by all means necessary.

It looks like you’ve nailed a lot of ideas on how to push ourselves and get out of our comfort zone, so I’m not sure I have too much to add in that respect. However a potential idea is take someone on under your wing and help push them out of their comfort zone and work with them, although come to think of it, that’s what you do on a daily basis : )

By the way, after taking on a few of your methods, following the Perfect V Shape routine and cooking some mean recipes from Dave’s cookbook, I’ve put on 4 1/2 pounds in 2 weeks. Thanks for all the info and inspiration, you’re a legend!

Great Chad! I really needed this today … I need to organize my business go through a difficult time and I need to have new goals and work harder than ever … I do not want to give up and I’ll fight to the end. Your post inspired me and gave me a little more inspiration to continue. Thanks!

Hey Chad – what a great article. I really enjoyed reading this , its kind of weird how everything happens for a reason. Today has been one of those days where I needed a pick me up, a fresh start, that extra push , and this has helped. I’m starting new routines for myself, morning runs every morning, gym or yoga every day, getting back into writing, saving $, focusing on my health and well being before my social life. You shine confidence, inspiration, maturity, and i thank you for sharing it. Lets get together man.

That’s awesome man, and I hear ya – sometimes it’s just about timing. Glad I could help out in some way. Give me a shout. I’m downtown a few days this week so let’s grab lunch or something. Talk soon.

geordie

hey dude – whats your number bud? I am interested in a program – i can be reached at 604 802 9380. thanks man

Andrew

Awesome-we can push ourselves by adding in just one little thing every day that improves upon the previous day,even if it’s only an extra one minute on the treadmill-over the month you could go from 15 minutes jogging to 45 minutes or reading 30 minutes a day to 1 hour.

We can push ourselves by having a vision of what our perfect day would look like and hold onto it, how productive it would be, how much work we would ideally get done and start at it right away.

Your almost never going to get that ideal day done on the first, second, third or even 100th or 1000th attempt but if you add just add a little in extra every day and keep yourself accountable you’ll soon find yourself closer and closer to getting ALL (well…nearly) the things you wanted to get done just as you had written down . It’s the little incremental improvements that make the big changes. Just one extra pullup a day, one extra minute, one extra rep.

This post is so on point. It’s what I needed – a blueprint of sorts, to set up a new morning routine.

thanks!

Conor Sheehy

In answer to the question: we push our limits by making the tough choice that makes us uncomfortable. The choice where we stop arguing even if we know we are right, the choice where we stay to help do the dishes even after a long day at work. The choice where we ask the girl out even though we are terrified of her rejection. That is how we push our limits by confronting our fears, whether it be of our physical shortcomings or our social or intellectual insecurities.